


Lifeguard Not On Duty

by strawberrylace



Series: Summer Daze [8]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Lifeguards, M/M, Summer, or else they're going to drive their friends insane with their pinning, these idiots just need to admit they like each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2020-06-29 20:00:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19837510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberrylace/pseuds/strawberrylace
Summary: He's beauty, he's grace, and oh my god, Stephen Strange is gonna land on his face...





	Lifeguard Not On Duty

**Author's Note:**

> After Cold Toothpaste, I knew I had to continue the story of Strange and Stark, so here is the sequel!  
> My knowledge of lifeguards is purely based on 80s movies, hence why this is so cheesy. Enjoy!!

Nighttime had rolled around at Erica's Ice Cream Shop and for Strange and Wong, that meant it was closing time. It had been a long and chaotic day for the two of them, but luckily they had the weekend off. There was five minutes to close and there were people still in the shop. Strange stood behind the cash register glaring down at the teenagers that were starring at their phones, impatiently for them to leave. One of the teens finally glanced up from their phone and noticed the death glare that Strange was giving them. Frightened, the rest of the group quietly got up from the table and left the shop. 

"FINALLY!" Strange groaned in exasperation, throwing his hands up in the air. "Thought they'd never leave!"

"Strange, they would've left eventually," said Wong, grabbing the mop from the supply closet. "If you gave them five more minutes, they would've known." 

"Oh, haha," Strange replied sarcastically, counting the money they received from the tip jar. Surprisingly, it was stuffed with more singles than he had anticipated, save for a few quarters tossed in. "Wong, I think we cleaned up pretty good today. Maybe we can afford to buy the 10 dollar wine instead of the five dollar bottle." 

"Don't knock the cheap stuff! We're poor college kids doing our best!" Wong finished cleaning the floors and sat on top of the counter space, counting his share of the tip money. "Or, I could treat us to the glorious concession food at the community pool tomorrow!" 

Strange gulped. Normally, he was fine with going to the pool but not when Tony Stark was working as a lifeguard. Tony and him had a bit of history together, mainly arguing in class. Yes, Strange found Tony to be insufferable at times, but deep down, it was because he had a big crush on him. Wong was aware and had tried to get him to just tell Tony his true feelings. However, Strange figured that Tony didn't feel the same way, so his pinning was masked underneath all the bickering. After what happened earlier, there sure as hell was no way that Strange would ever confess how he truly felt about Tony. 

"Seriously?" Strange groaned. "Are you forgetting that Tony works there? I can't dare to show my face with him around!" 

"Stephen, you're overreacting..." Wong sighed. 

"What if he pushes me in the pool when I'm not looking? Could you imagine if I drowned?" 

"I think lifeguards are supposed to help citizens and if he did, I think that would be manslaughter. Come on, Strange. It's the first day off we've had in forever and the pool would be perfect to cool off in! Please?" 

Strange looked back at Wong. He was right. Strange couldn't remember the last time he had a proper day off. A trip to the pool would definitely be nice, so as long as he didn't have to see Stark. 

"Alright," Strange sighed. "But if Stark is working tomorrow, he better not try to push me in the pool." 

\--------------------------------------- 

It was a perfect day to go to the pool. While it was nearly as hot as the day before, there was still a good amount of sun. When Strange and Wong got to the pool, it wasn't nearly as crowded as they imagined it to be. Strange looked around at all the lifeguards that were on duty. He saw Rhodey was sitting atop his chair as Wong went looking for a place to set their towels down. There was no sign of Stark, which gave a Strange a sense of relief, but was also a little sad. He secretly wanted him to see the new blue and red swim trunks he was wearing today. 

"Looks like your lifeguard is not on duty," Wong mused, lathering sunscreen on his body.

"Huh?" Strange pretended not to hear Wong. 

"I saw you looking for him. It's okay, maybe you can actually relax for a change." 

"I am relaxed!" He grabbed the bottle of sunscreen from Wong. "I'm just...curious as to why he's not here." 

Wong wasn't convinced. "And to think you didn't care for Stark..." 

"Shut up! C'mon, let's go out on the diving board."

Onto the diving board they went. It was a perfect opportunity for Strange to completely forget about Stark and just enjoy the day off. After a while, he and Wong ended up grabbing some nachos from the concession stand and split them. 

After lunch, Wong dozed off on one of the chairs while Strange made his way back over to the diving board. As he climbed up the stairs, he noticed from a distance that Rhodey was getting ready to climb out of his chair. Once Strange got to the top, his stomach dropped when he saw the lifeguard that was taking over.

Tony Stark sauntered out from the locker rooms and over to Rhodey's seat. Strange could've sworn that Stark was walking in slow motion, or perhaps it was the way he was imagining it. If it were a movie, he would definitely be walking in slow motion with a funky bass line playing over it. Stark was wearing a white tank top with his red board shorts. His usually spiked short hair was looking a little shaggier than normal. And the aviator Ray Bans? It was the cherry on top of a perfect look, according to Strange. 

This was no time to be distracted by a ridiculously good looking asshole, Strange thought to himself. The diving board could get dangerous. He looked behind to see that someone was waiting for him to dive. He took a deep breath and readied himself. The water was all clear of swimmers. Strange was focused, for he was beauty, he was grace, and was about to fall flat on his face.

Strange somehow slipped on the edge of the board, causing him to fall flat in his face in the water. People were frightened, for they thought he was going to drown. Of course, all of this was one big blur for the next thing he knew, he was being dragged out of the deep end and carried onto a life raft. He found the ordeal to be a tad silly, for it wasn't like he purposely drowned. He looked up to see who was pulling the raft, he really wished that he was in more imminent danger. 

"Stark?" Strange gasped, coughing up a bit of water. "Wh-what are you doing?" 

"Saving you, Wizard," Tony replied, as they brought themselves to the edge of the pool. Rhodey and Wong frantically came over to their friends sides as soon as they got out if the pool. 

"Stephen, what the hell?" Wong cried out. 

"Strange, are you alright?" Rhodey asked. "Looks like you slipped on the diving board and landed on your face. The kids were freaked out." 

"Yeah..." Strange rubbed his face, which was still stinging from the way he landed. He hoped it would go away by work on Monday. 

"I can't believe Tony came to the rescue!" Wong pointed out. "I mean, after that little incident yesterday..." 

"Still bitter about it but, I mean, it was nothing," Tony replied, avoiding eye contact with Strange. 

"Oh my god, can you two PLEASE just stop with the bickering already?" Rhodey groaned. "How much longer are Wong and I gonna have to put up with this before you two realize?" 

"Realize what?" Strange asked. 

"Rhodes, not now!" Wong whispered. 

"Not now what?" Tony asked, waiting for an explanation. 

"Well, since this is never going to get resolved, I might as well be the one who will spell it out for them." Rhodey took a deep breath. "We know you both like each other. In fact, Wong and I have been waiting for you dummies to finally figure it out but the both of you have your heads so far up your asses, neither of you can see it!" 

"WHAT?!" Tony and Strange exclaimed. 

"Uh..." Wong's eyes shifted, trying to think of a way to get these idiots alone. "Hey Rhodes, do you want to show me the um...different life savers you guys use?" 

"Huh? Oh, yes! Here, let me lead the way!" 

Wong and Rhodey made a big show of them leaving their friends alone as they carefully watched the pinning idiots finally figure their feelings out for one another from afar. 

"Wait, is that why you ridiculed my ice cream choices yesterday?" Tony crossed his arms. "Because you like me?" 

"I believe that there were two people who had their ice cream choices ridiculed that day," Strange protested. 

"I still stand by what I said." 

"Well so do I!" 

Tony bit his lip and sighed. "How long?" 

"How long what?" Strange asked. 

"How long have you liked me?" 

"Since the second day of classes in Bio Chem. When you stole my seat. All the other prime seats were taken, so I sat two seats behind you. I was annoyed, but there was something about you that I couldn't figure out about you." 

Tony tilted his head slightly. "So that's why you argued with me in every class we had together? Because I stole your seat?" 

"Why did you steal my seat?" 

Tony paused. "Because I wanted to sit next to you." 

Strange was stunned. "You what?" 

"First day of class. I walk into Bio Chem and there you were, sitting in the second row towards the center of the class. I couldn't take my eyes off of you. I was going to take my seat next to you but then someone else beat me to the punch. So I sat a couple of desks behind you and made a plan to try to sit next to you the next class. So that day came around and waited for you to come around and notice but..." 

"I was running late that day." Now that Strange knew the whole atory, he was now starting to feel really foolish and that perhaps Wong had been right all this time. 

"But it's funny, the first time you argued with me in that class, I could've sworn I saw a smirk on your face when you looked my way. And then, I just read that as something....so I looked forward to Bio Chem."

Strange smirked, looking down at the ground, before looking deep into Tony's beautiful brown eyes. "Thank you for saving my life." 

"Thank you for not dying," Tony smiled. "Because maybe I could take you out on a date, if you'd like? Ice cream might be out of the question because it turns out we both have terrible taste." 

"Do you like pizza?" Strange asked. "Please don't tell me you put anchovies on your pizza, because then this could get ugly." 

"Do you like pineapple on your pizza? Because if you don't, I'll push you back in the pool." 

"I happen to be okay with pineapple on my pizza," Strange smiled, reaching out for Tony's hand. "Perhaps we could go out for pizza then?" 

Tony took Strange's hand and smiled. "Sounds like a date then."

"Aww, you two finally got together!" Wong gushed, coming back with Rhodey, holding a popsicle. He then turned to Rhodey and said, "See Rhodes, I told you it would work! Now you owe me 20 bucks."


End file.
